The past few weeks of my life have been so chaotic and busy I feel like I’m stuck in a whirlwind. It began with one of my nieces getting Coxsackie virus, or hand, foot, mouth disease. She attends daycare in the afternoon but was restricted for two weeks due to the illness. This meant extra shuttling of days off and getting additional childcare for her. When she began to improve, my second niece came down with the symptoms. The same day she fell ill, my car which my brother in law drives currently due to kid shuffling issues, had a tire blow out. Just the prior week I had made a judgment call to transfer nearly all my funds from my bank account into my IRA to help with taxes. My thought being I have enough groceries to last until I get paid again and I can go without extra coffees or eating out until my next paycheck in two weeks. Well the tire blowout came and I needed new tires…. Two days later, I got in my car and the blinker began to flash quickly. A sign that the light bulb would need to be replaced soon.

I felt like crying or screaming. Really Jesus?!? One more thing?!? That’s when He reminded me. He created me and died for me to experience an abundant life and the life of a child of the most high Creator. He created me and takes me from ‘glory to glory’. I wanted to think yeah right but instead I pondered it and realized this was something to claim in moments like this.

So as I drove down the road I spoke out loud and stated ‘I claim the glory You created me for. I claim further glory.’ Now I sit a week later, I have also come down with the virus and missed three days of work, multiple meetings and a birthday party. I have also forgotten my tithe is automatically withdrawn the first of the month and now my groceries are limited to beans and rice. So have things improved? According to the world? Nope. According to my heart? Yep.

Sometimes believing something isn’t enough. Sometimes I have to claim it. Out loud and in the face of the storm. The enemy says ‘you cannot withstand the storm’. A warrior says ‘I am the storm.’ Sometimes we must claim the glory given us and be the storm of His grace and power in the chaos created by the enemy.